Matilda
The Infantry Tank Mark II "Matilda" was a British infantry tank that saw action in the Second World War. Usually the use of the name "Matilda" refers to the better-known Mark II '''rather than the '''Mark I (an earlier model armed with a machine-gun). A bit of history The Matilda was designed in 1937 to adress the need of a larger and better armed infantry tank which the Mk. I couldn't provide (in fact, it was based on the A7 tank); its main armament consisted of a OQF 2-Pounder gun, quite effective against armor but unable to fire a reliable HE round, coupled with a Besa MG. Like all infantry tanks, it had very thick armor (78 mm in the frontal glacis), and had a low top speed (barely 16 mp/h on road), yet acceptable due to its intended role of infantry support. Some 3'000 of them were built between 1939 and 1943. It first saw action in France in 1940, where its thick armor made them impregnable to the German anti-tank and tank guns, with only the superlative FlaK 18 88 mm anti-aircraft gun proving capable of penetrating their frontal armor comfortably. The Matilda however gained most of its fame in North Africa, where it gained the nickname "Queen of the Desert" by spearheading the offensive which drove the Italian 10th Army out of Egypt, again proving impervious to any gun the Italians had, and proving vastly superior to Italian tanks like the CV.33 tankette or the M11/39 medium tank. Only when the Afrika Korps fielded 88mm and 50 mm PaK 38 guns in 1941 did the Matilda begin to lose its effectiveness. It was replaced in frontline service around Autumn 1941 by the Valentine tank, yet remained in service for secondary duties (like mine-clearing, with the Matilda Scorpion version) and in secondary fronts (like the Pacific) for the remainder of the war. The Matilda was supplied to the USSR too (around 1084 in total), but in Soviet service its low speed and its by then ineffective main gun proved unsuccessful against German tanks and unpopular with the crews, with most of the tanks being expended by 1942. Other info St. Gloriana Girls High School fields four Matilda IIs in their practice match against Ooarai; they proved very resilient to their opponent's guns, with the M3 Lee or the Type 89B being unable to penetrate their armor at all (and the latter even in the weaker rear plate, from point-blank range); tanks with better weaponry like the StuG III or the Panzer IV were able to knock them out with a single shot (albeit fired from point-blank range and in the former's case against the weaker side plate). However, their 2-Pounder guns proved rather ineffective, only being able to penetrate the side armor of the Lee (that had just been abandoned by its panicked crew) and the thin armor of the Type 89B, leaving their more heavily armed Churchill tank to get most kills. Tank basic caracteristics *'Armament' #Main gun : Ordnance QF 2-pounder (40 mm) #Other : 7.92mm Besa MG *'Hull armor / Turret armor' #Front :78mm / 75mm #Sides : 70mm / 75mm #Rear : 55mm / 75mm *'Speed :' 26 km/h (16 mp/h) on road, 14 km/h (9 mp/h) off road More details about the Matilda *Matilda *Matilda Specifications Category:Tanks